Is burnt toast really carcinogenic?

Acrylamide often gets the spotlight, in general they warn of its obvious dangers to our health. But how much of this is true? – asks IFL Science.

The most delicious part can be the most dangerous

Acrylamide is a natural by-product of cooking, baking, toasting or roasting food, especially starchy products, at high temperatures. It is created by the process that leads to the browning of food and the resulting characteristic tastesuch as the delicate, burnt pieces of lasagna.

It is most abundant in chips and French fries, but can also be found in toast (especially if it is slightly burnt), cakes, cereals and coffee.

There have been many articles about acrylamide in our food causing cancer. In 2002 straight the Swedish National Food Agency issued an alert because of this, the sale of chips in Sweden fell by 40 percent within a few days.

Evidence is lacking

However, despite the concerns raised by the announcement over twenty years ago, it still is there is insufficient evidence to directly support that acrylamide can cause cancer. It is already difficult to determine how much acrylamide people consume during their meals.

Proving the matter is also made difficult by its ethical limitations. In order to really say that it causes cancer, clinical trials would have to be conducted on humans. However, it is not possible to conduct clinical trials with substances that have a possible carcinogenic effect

says Rashmi Sinha. The lead researcher of the National Cancer Research Institute added that rat experiments have already proven: acrylamide It can lead to DNA or chromosomal damage and errors in the repair of these damages, which can cause cancerto. However, there are also toxicological studies that show that humans and rodents absorb acrylamide at different rates, so the results of animal studies are not necessarily valid for us.

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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) evaluated the available scientific data and issued an opinion on the subject. According to this, animal experiments prove that acrylamide and glycidamide damage DNA or chromosomes and are potentially carcinogenic. However, there is limited evidence from human studies, that dietary intake of acrylamide would increase the risk of cancer. Although the evidence for human risk is unclear, one thing is certain: if you’re going to make toast, don’t burn it black!